swapfile?

[wossname]

I'm running Windows XPHome, 256Ram, 1.5Ghz celeron laptop.

What rould you recommend I set my pagefile size to be? The machine is becoming a bit sluggish if I have VS.Net running, firefox takes ages to load up.

Windows is currently managing the pagefile size (which i know is not optimal)

[Dave Sell]

Couldn't dig up the MSDN article, but I know NT Workstation is supposed to have RAM size x 2 plus 12MB for the registry. I would stick to that unless you find another MSDN article specifically detailing specs for XP.

I also recommend the swap file be placed on its own partition.

[wossname]

I have a D: partition on the main disc that has nothing in it. It has over 760MB free. Winxp is installed on the same physical disc but in the C: partition (naturally ).

Would that D: partition be suitable? How do I go about moving the pagefile, just by setting the C: swap to 0 megs and the D: swap to 524 megs?

Is it safe to do this? I'll do a defrag and a system backup first though, just in case..

*no0bie*

[Dave Sell]

Originally posted by wossname
I have a D: partition on the main disc that has nothing in it. It has over 760MB free. Winxp is installed on the same physical disc but in the C: partition (naturally ).

Would that D: partition be suitable? How do I go about moving the pagefile, just by setting the C: swap to 0 megs and the D: swap to 524 megs?

Is it safe to do this? I'll do a defrag and a system backup first though, just in case..

*no0bie*

The D:\ will be perfect. Make sure to never place files on it.

Right-click on My Computer and choose properties.

Go to the [Advanced] Tab.

Under [Performance] choose the [settings] button.

Again, choose the [Advanced] Tab.

Down at the bottom, choose the [Change] button.

Click the C: and choose the [No paging file] Radio button.

Click the D: and set the initial size to 524 and let the maximum be the size of the partition, 760.

That's it, you might have to reboot for this to take effect. after the reboot, there will be no more swap file on C:, only on D:.

I include a pic of my settings which are also like this for optimal performance.

[Dave Sell]

P.S.

Defrag your C: after you make these changes.

[plenderj]

Ideally your swap file should be on a seperate drive to the one you work on primarily. Having said that its not going to make an enormous amount of difference.

Are you sure you don't have a virus or spyware or stuff like that?

[wossname]

Thanks for the help JP

I'm always a bit nervous with meddling in things like this.

I don't think I have a virus or anything like that, but my laptop has generally been a bit sluggish after I installed XP SP2 a couple of weeks ago. Tends to access the HDD a lot when changing to a different application window. Currently the swap is set at 336MB!

I'll try this out tonight.

Cheers

[Ideas Man]

I ended up putting mine on it's own 1GB partition.

[wossname]

Hi guys. After a day or two of use, my swapfile seems to be behaving itself in its new home.

I opted to make the max size about 50 megs less than the size of the partition, just for my own piece of mind more than anything.

the machine is definitely a bit perkier than it was

w00t!!!!111!!1

[Ideas Man]

I had to make it about 200MB smaller otherwise Windows would always tell me my page file partition is running low on space.

[wossname]

Was that partition larger than 1 gig? I thought that warning was based on % of free space rather than absolute MB values.

[Ideas Man]

Was that partition larger than 1 gig? I thought that warning was based on % of free space rather than absolute MB values.

Well, I have the partition set to exactly 1GB (1024 MB) and anything over 200 it poped up, so I made it a little less, as much as possible though.